Firefighter Saves Woman From Burning House

Friday

Jun 14, 2013 at 9:18 AMJun 14, 2013 at 11:09 PM

MULBERRY | Nearly blinded by smoke, with his helmet and radio knocked off, Polk County firefighter and paramedic Jordan Caldwell backed up slowly early Friday morning, dragging an injured woman and hoping the door to the burning home was behind him.

By JEREMY MAREADYTHE LEDGER

MULBERRY | Nearly blinded by smoke, with his helmet and radio knocked off, Polk County firefighter and paramedic Jordan Caldwell backed up slowly early Friday morning, dragging an injured woman and hoping the door to the burning home was behind him.Minutes earlier, Caldwell had been on his way to another call at 2:21 a.m. and saw the report of a fire in Mulberry pop up on the screen inside his ambulance.Caldwell, 25, was close and began driving toward the home at 330 Diesel Road before he was dispatched, he said. "We had a good jump on everyone. The fire trucks were still a few minutes out."He was there in three minutes, according to county records.Dispatchers were able to talk to the woman, whose name was not released, but the call got disconnected."My house is on fire," the woman said to a 911 dispatcher, coughing and struggling to talk. "Help! My house is on fire."At one point the call disconnected. When the dispatcher called back, she told the woman to get out of the home."I can't," the woman said coughing more. "I can't move." When Caldwell got there, neighbors were yelling that a woman was inside the single-family wood-frame home, he said. While Caldwell prepared his bunker gear, his partner Glenn Harshbarger assessed the situation.On the radio, Caldwell said he got the order by his chief: "Go ahead and make a rescue."At that point, he said, his training kicked in."Everything clicked," he said. "It just happened."Once inside, he said, it was hard to see. It wasn't like a typical fire."Usually you see an orange glow," Caldwell said. "I didn't see anything. The smoke was so thick. I could maybe see one or two feet in front of me."Caldwell stuck close to the ground, crawling; 10, 12, 15 feet inside the home, he said.He found the woman. She seemed lifeless.When Caldwell touched her, she began to fight, he said. "She was out of it. She was probably disoriented. I think it's like that last rush of energy that something could happen."The woman knocked away his helmet and radio, leaving him with no way to communicate with other firefighters outside."I didn't want to get turned around," Caldwell said. "I knew the door was 10 steps or so behind me, so I just started backing up."Smoke had forced the door closed, but he was able to find his way out, finally making it out on the front lawn.But his job wasn't over. He's also a paramedic."Bam! I took my gear off and switched roles," he said. "I did triage on the front lawn and got her medication while we waited for the Aeromed" helicopter ambulance.The woman, who was the only occupant in the home, did not appear to have any burn injuries but was flown as a precaution to Tampa General Hospital, Polk County Fire spokesman Brad Ruhmann said. Her updated condition was not known Friday.The home sustained water and smoke damage, and two dogs died in the blaze, Ruhmann said. The State Fire Marshall's Office is investigating the cause of the fire.Caldwell was hired by Polk County as an EMT in 2008 and received his fire standards in 2009, according to county records.After the rescue, it took Caldwell about an hour to regain his focus and to calm his nerves.Outside, he was congratulated and told by those with much more experience that rescues like that are rare and probably won't happen again during his career."My adrenaline was through the roof," he said. "It's a night I'll never forget."

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